Association of American Medical Colleges and American Medical Association Joint Statement on Physician Workforce Planning and Graduate Medical Education Reform Policies

THE Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA) recognize that there are a number of policy issues related to the size and specialty mix of the physician workforce and the organization and funding of graduate medical education (GME) and the academic environment that must be addressed on an ongoing basis to further the health of the public and respond to the goals and requirements of health system reform. Both associations concur with the need for a better balance between generalist physicians and nongeneralist specialty physicians and are concerned that the size of the future physician workforce may exceed both the public's need and the demand for physicians' services. Both associations also concur that planned changes in the size or specialty mix of the workforce must be approached thoughtfully and deliberately. The AMA and AAMC offer the following principles to guide these deliberations. A national physician